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Isaiah 5

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The Song of the Vineyard 1–7

1
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: ​
2
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. ​
3
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. ​
4
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? ​
5
And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: ​
6
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. ​

Woe to the Land Grabbers 8–10

8
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! ​
9
In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. ​
10
Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah. ​

Woe to the Drunkards 11–12

11
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! ​
12
And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands. ​

Exile, Humbling, and the LORD Exalted in Judgment 13–17

13
Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. ​
14
Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. ​
15
And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: ​
16
But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. ​
17
Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. ​

Woe to Those Who Call Evil Good 18–23

18
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: ​
19
That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it! ​
20
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! ​
21
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! ​
22
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: ​
23
Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! ​

The Anger of the LORD and the Coming Invasion 24–30

24
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. ​
25
Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ​
26
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: ​
27
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: ​
28
Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: ​
29
Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. ​
30
And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Isaiah 5

Verse 1

a song of my beloved touching his vineyard — Two words of love open the song: yedid ('wellbeloved') and dod ('beloved'). 'Very fruitful hill' is literally a 'horn of the son of oil' (qeren, ben, shemen). Christ takes up the figure: 'Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard' (Matt 21:33); cf. Ps 80:8.

Verse 2

the choicest vine — Sorek is the vine yielding purple grapes, the richest kind. Each act of care is a verb: 'fenced' (azaq), 'gathered out the stones' (saqal), 'planted', 'built', 'made'. 'Wild grapes' is be'ushim, poison-berries; compare the vine 'of Sodom' with 'grapes of gall' (Deut 32:32).

Verse 3

judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard — The singer turns to 'inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah' and makes them the judges (shaphat) in the case. The verdict is theirs to give; it is the LORD who is 'justified when thou speakest' (Ps 51:4), as the questions of v.4 and the sentence of vv.5–6 follow.

Verse 4

What could have been done more — The verb asah, 'to do', carries the verse: what the LORD has 'done' and what the vineyard 'brought forth' are the same verb. The question recalls 'O my people, what have I done unto thee?' (Mic 6:3); the answer in v.4 is that nothing was lacking, only the fruit.

Verse 5

I will take away the hedge thereof — The hedge (mesukah) and wall (gader) are removed, undoing the fencing of v.2, so the vineyard is 'eaten up' (ba'ar, grazed or consumed) and becomes a 'trodden down' place (mirmas). The sentence reverses his protection; compare 'Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles' (Luke 21:24).

Verse 7

he looked for judgment, but behold oppression — The parable is explained: the vineyard is 'the house of Israel', Judah his 'pleasant plant' (shaashuim, delight). Two wordplays close it: mishpat (judgment) / mispach (oppression), and tsedaqah (righteousness) / tse'aqah (a cry), the cry of the wronged (cf. Jas 5:4).

Verse 8

join house to house — Hoy, 'woe', begins a series of woes in this chapter. The sin is land-grabbing: field joined to field 'till there be no place', until the owner is 'alone in the midst of the earth'. Mic 2:2 names the same practice: 'they covet fields, and take them by violence'; Ahab and Naboth's vineyard is the pattern (1 Kgs 21:16).

Verse 9

In mine ears said the LORD of hosts — The prophet claims a direct hearing, as in 'it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts' (Isa 22:14). The houses 'great and fair' become shammah, a desolation, without inhabitant; compare 'ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them' (Amos 5:11).

Verse 10

ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath — 'Acres' is tsemed, a yoke: the land a yoke of oxen ploughs in a day. A bath is the tenth of a homer, and an ephah is the same tenth (Ezek 45:11), so a homer of seed returns a tenth. The land answers the land-grabbers with failure; cf. Hag 1:6.

Verse 11

rise up early in the morning — The word for rising early (shakam) is the ordinary verb for an early start; here it is given to the pursuit of shekar, strong drink, with 'follow' (radaph) meaning to chase. They 'continue until night'. Compare 'Woe to thee, O land… thy princes eat in the morning!' (Eccl 10:16).

Verse 12

they regard not the work of the LORD — Four instruments are named: harp (kinnor), viol (nebel), tabret (toph) and pipe (chalil). The charge is inattention to what the LORD is doing. Ps 28:5 has nearly the same words, with the sentence added: 'Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them'.

Verse 13

because they have no knowledge — Daath, knowledge of the LORD, the lack named in 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge' (Hos 4:6) and in 'my people doth not consider' (Isa 1:3). 'Are gone into captivity' is a past form (galah): the exile is spoken of as done. The 'honourable' and the 'multitude' alike are starved.

Verse 14

hell hath enlarged herself — Sheol, the place of the dead, is pictured with a throat (nephesh, 'appetite') and a mouth open 'without measure'. Its appetite matches that of the greedy: 'Hell and destruction are never full' (Prov 27:20). Their 'multitude' (hamon, as in v.13) and revelry go down into it.

Verse 15

the mean man shall be brought down — The humbling is the refrain of Isa 2:9, 'the mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself', and Isa 2:11, 'The lofty looks of man shall be humbled'. Both ranks are bowed (shachach, shaphel), and the 'eyes of the lofty' (gabohah) go down.

Verse 16

exalted in judgment — The verb is gabah, to be high, the root of the 'lofty' (gabohah) in v.15: man is brought low and the LORD of hosts is set high. 'God that is holy' is 'sanctified' (qadash) in tsedaqah, righteousness. The same holiness is the theme of 'I will sanctify my great name' (Ezek 36:23).

Verse 17

the lambs feed after their manner — Dober is a pasture, so the lambs graze as in their own fold. The 'waste places' (chorbah) of the 'fat ones' (meach, fatlings) are eaten by 'strangers' (gur, sojourners). The desolation becomes pasture, as in 'folds for flocks' (Zeph 2:6).

Verse 18

cords of vanity… a cart rope — Chebel is a cord and aboth a thick twisted rope, the kind that hauls a laden cart (agalah). Shav, 'vanity', is emptiness or falsehood. Iniquity (avon) is dragged along with effort, and the word also means its punishment, so the cord drags its own punishment behind it.

Verse 19

Let him make speed, and hasten his work — The mockers dare the LORD to act, using 'Holy One of Israel' in scorn. The verbs mahar and chush both mean to hurry. The challenge recurs: 'Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now' (Jer 17:15); 'Where is the promise of his coming?' (2 Pet 3:4).

Verse 20

call evil good, and good evil — Three pairs of opposites are swapped: evil and good (ra, tov), darkness and light (choshek, or), bitter and sweet (mar, mathoq). The reversal is condemned in Proverbs as in the prophets: 'He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just… abomination to the LORD' (Prov 17:15).

Verse 21

wise in their own eyes — Chakam, wise, and bin, to discern: the claim to both is made 'in their own eyes', and 'sight' is literally 'face' (panim). The warning is Solomon's: 'Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil' (Prov 3:7); Paul repeats it in Rom 12:16.

Verse 22

mighty to drink wine — Gibbor ('mighty') and chayil ('strength') are words of valour and the warrior; here the valour is spent on drinking and 'to mingle' (masak, to mix wine, as with spices) strong drink. The woe returns to v.11; cf. 'the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink' (Isa 28:7).

Verse 23

justify the wicked for reward — Shachad is a bribe; the verb 'justify' (tsadaq) and 'the righteous' (tsaddiq) share a root, so the judges make the guilty righteous and strip the righteous of his right. 'He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just… both are abomination to the LORD' (Prov 17:15).

Verse 24

as the fire devoureth the stubble — Fire eats qash (stubble) and the flame the chashash (chaff); the 'root' becomes maq, rottenness, and the 'blossom' (perach) goes up as abaq, fine dust. The cause is stated: they 'cast away' the torah (law) and 'despised' the word. Compare 'the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable' (Luke 3:17).

Verse 25

his hand is stretched out still — The refrain 'For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still' returns word for word in Isa 9:12, 9:17, 9:21 and 10:4. 'The hills did tremble' (ragaz) and the 'carcases' are suchah, refuse, 'torn in the midst of the streets'.

Verse 26

lift up an ensign to the nations from far — Nes is a signal-pole on which a banner is raised; 'hiss' (sharaq) is a whistle that calls. The LORD himself summons the invader: 'the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt' (Isa 7:18); cf. Deut 28:49, 'a nation against thee from far'.

Verse 27

the latchet of their shoes be broken — The army never falters: no one is 'weary' (ayeph) or stumbles, and the 'girdle' (ezor) of the loins and the shoe-thong (seroch) stay fast, the fastenings of men ready for the march. Joel 2:7 says the same of a host that 'shall not break their ranks'.

Verse 28

their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint — The arrows are sharpened (shanan) and the bows 'bent' (darak, to tread, from stringing a bow underfoot). The flint is tsar, hard stone; the 'wheels' (galgal) of the chariots are 'like a whirlwind' (suphah). Chariots also rage 'in the streets' in Nah 2:4.

Verse 29

they shall roar like young lions — Three roaring verbs and nouns are heaped here: sheagah, shaag and naham, with the lion (lavi) and the young lion (kephir). The prey (tereph) is carried off 'and none shall deliver it', the sentence of 'lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver' (Ps 50:22).

Verse 30

like the roaring of the sea — The verb naham, 'roar', is the one used of the lions in v.29; now the sound is the sea's. Looking to the land finds 'darkness and sorrow', the 'trouble and darkness' of Isa 8:22. The chapter that opened with a song ends with the light 'darkened in the heavens thereof'.